Thermal infrared cameras are well known and used in a wide variety of applications. A typical thermal infrared camera, often referred to simply as an infrared camera or IR camera, uses an infrared detector to detect infrared energy that is provided to the infrared detector through an infrared camera lens—a lens capable of transmitting infrared energy. The infrared camera may also include a display for a user to view images generated by the infrared camera based on the infrared energy, or the images may be stored by the infrared camera or transmitted (e.g., via a wireless or wired network) for remote viewing and/or storage.
A conventional infrared camera typically includes a large number of individual, non-integrated, electronic components that require various printed circuit boards and power supply voltages to support these electrical components. The conventional infrared camera may also require an external heat sink or other type of external, thermal management device to control temperature conditions associated with the infrared detector and other sensitive components of the infrared camera.
Furthermore, the conventional infrared camera may have cumbersome optical alignment procedures and/or complex calibration processes that may need to be performed by a user integrating the infrared camera into a desired system. Consequently, the conventional infrared camera may represent a device that is relatively expensive to manufacture and complex to integrate into a desired system. As a result, there is a need for an improved infrared camera architecture.